General Morando
General Val Morando was the exiled general of the Taylon Phalanx and the main antagonist of 3Below. History Backstory Not much is known about Morando's past, only that he has been exiled from Akiridion-5 for unknown tyrannical reasons, most likely because he tried to betray his people and gain position as king by force. Later on, he orders the Zeron Brotherhood to orchestrate a tragic bombing on Satellite 9, where Varvatos Vex's family were sadly caught in. The reason was to make Varvatos vulnerable enough to question House Tarron's honor. Part One (3Below) Overthrowing House Tarron When he plotted to destroy House Tarron, he went to their most trusted ward: Varvatos Vex. He tricks him into betraying the royal family by reminding him of his relatives being killed in a bombing (the one where King Fialkov wouldn't allow the Phalanx to pursue a group of alien bounty hunters called the Zeron Brotherhood across the galaxy and, instead, fortified Akiridion-5's planetary defenses). On the day of Aja and Krel's coronation (the one the former was absent from), Morando orders his forces to begin attacking Akiridion-5 after the shields were lowered by Varvatos. He later confronts the Tarron family in their palace, where he forces his men to shoot at the king and queen, causing them to lose their physical bodies. After immediately seeing his mistake, Varvatos takes the royal cores and retreats into the Mothership with the heirs while Zadra stays behind and buys them time to escape. Morando orders his V-Strikers to pursue the Mothership, but too late when they escape Akiridion-5 through hyperspace. A soldier reports to the exiled general that they were unable to track the House Tarron Mothership, due to their own ships not being properly equipped for space-travel. Out of disappointment, he kills the soldier and assembles several bounty hunters to find the royal children and bring their parents' life cores to Morando so they would be rewarded greatly. After successfully taking over Akiridion-5 (even with many of the Akiridions ranting that he was never the rightful king), he tries to corrupt Zadra into being his lieutenant, but she refuses the offer, and soon escapes with Izita. The Omen Project After that, Morando asks Loth Saborian, one of the Akiridions who work for him, about the status of the Omen project. Loth tells him that it's difficult, but Morando threatens to kill him. Eventually, the first Omen (a gigantic, brutal robot which is nearly indestructible), is created, and Morando makes a claim that the age of Omen has begun. (He basically means that he will create more Omens to terrorize the citizens of Akiridion-5.) He then has the Omen kill all of the rebels. While Zadra escapes on a ship to Earth, the Omen hitches a ride without her knowing. Even worse, Morando forces the Akiridions to worship him, with one of the guards threatening a child not to pray for the King and Queen's return. The guard says, “First warning. There will be no second warnings.” Eliminating the Heirs After arriving on Earth, the Omen corrupts Mother's programming and takes the King and Queen's cores during the event of the Eternal Night which Morgana has already caused. However, when it tries to fly away, Varvatos makes a heroic sacrifice to save the King and Queen by slamming the side of his ship into the spaceship, thus making up for his treason. He is knocked unconscious, and subsequently taken away by the Zeron Alpha to a prison in the Earth's Moon where the bounty hunters hang out. After that, Aja, Krel, and Zadra manage to enter Mother, but are attacked by the corrupted Blanks. Aja manages to escape, but is confronted by the Omen. Morando, from a holographic screen, taunts Aja that if she destroys the Omen, she will also destroy the King and Queen, and shows the footage to the entire planet of Akiridion-5 of Omen brutalizing and attempting to kill her. He also tries to have the Omen self-destruct in a countdown. However, Krel is able to turn Mother back to its original programming, thus temporarily shutting down the Omen. During this time, he and Aja make a speech to the planet that inspires hope and rebellion against Morando. Morando tries to have Loth shut off the video, who claims that it's impossible. Despite this, the Omen turns back on since its battery wasn't completely drained, but Aja kicks it into Mother's gears before it can self-destruct, thus destroying the Omen. After the destruction of Omen and failing to diminish Akiridion-5's hopes, Morando decides to personally invade Earth so he can crush the King and Queen's cores himself. Part Two (3Below) Preparing the Armada After the events of Part One, Loth Saborian redeems himself after realizing just how horrible Morando has become, so he reveals to Zadra, Aja, and Krel that Morando has created much more Omens to oppress his people. To continue the fight against Morando, Krel creates a game which is linked to parking-security drones to destroy Morando's main vessel. Aja convinces Mary Wang to make the game go viral because it'll keep their summer from being boring. Hundreds of people start playing the game, causing hundreds of parking drones to combat Morando's vessel. However, the people start playing Go Go Sushi 2: Wasabi's Revenge instead because it's a popular game that has recently came out, causing the hundreds of drones to be destroyed. However, Eli Pepperjack targets Morando's vessel and makes a critical hit even though his parking drone was destroyed, forcing Morando and his fleet to flee. Morando gets infuriated by this, so he rips off one of the Omens' heads and orders Loth to triple the bounty. Eventually, Loth gives vital information about both the legend of Seklos and Gaylen being true and the location of Gaylen's core to one of the members of the Resistance. However, Morando discovers that he has betrayed him, so he has one of the Omens snatch the Resistance member and forces him to give the information to him. Morando then snaps his fingers, thus having the Omen drop the Resistance member from a great height. He then has Loth taken to the prison bay because he might still be useful to him. Meeting Kubritz Morando then creates a hologram to Colonel Kubritz, saying he also wants to get rid of Aja and Krel, and he also makes another hologram speaking to Gwendolyn, who calls him about contacting Aja and Krel. After that, Morando creates an asteroid the size of Arcadia to crash in Arcadia in approximately 24 horvaths, which causes Aja, Krel, and Varvatos to make a deal with Kubritz to stop the asteroid. Although the asteroid was stopped, Kubritz reveals that it wasn't a deal, but a trap. Fortunately, Aja, Krel, and Varvatos are able to escape with the help of Stuart, Toby, and Steve. After that, Morando finally arrives on Earth. Kubritz tells Morando “They were too preoccupied to stop your asteroid,” but Morando tells her it was a diversion to distract the royals, and gives her some Omens, claiming it was to help her defend Earth. Morando also arrives at Area 49B and releases one of his bounty hunters, Tronos Madus, only so he can kill him off for his failures. Kubritz shrugs in disgust, but she foolishly continues to trust him. After that, Morando reveals that Gaylen was a celestial of fearsome power who crushed the stars in his hand, turning them to dust, and from that dust, Akiridion-5 was created; while Gaylen is gone, his core still exists, a weapon of remarkable power that is now on our planet. He tells Kubritz that if she helps him find the core, then he will provide her with weapons she could use to protect herself against the galaxy. Eventually, after those events are over, Aja and Luug accidentally teleport to Area 49B, where Morando confronts Aja, and they both fight. However, as Morando gets the upper hand, Luug and Aja teleport back to Mother. Ambushing House Tarron Morando then arrives with his Omens as he commands them, with Kubritz telling Morando that he promised her technology to help her. He tells her that it is too important for a human to command, and that he will return his Omens to her after he gets the King and Queen's cores. He and his Omens then find Mother, and tells the Royals (Aja, Krel, Varvatos, and Zadra) that he will give them a quick death if they surrender, but will kill them horrifyingly if they don't. They refuse to surrender, so he has his Omens attack Mother, who immediately activates her shield to protect the Royals, who call Buster, the alien monster (literal, not figurative) to the rescue, but Morando, in his ship, blow up Buster to his death using his lasers. He and his Omens enter the spaceship and attack Mother, and seemingly deletes her, not knowing that she transferred herself into one of his Omens. Then, he stops the Omens from fighting, only so he can kill Varvatos himself, and brutally fights him, taunts him about how he could've been one of his greatest warriors, and mocks him about himself ordering the Zeron Brotherhood to launch the bombing on Satellite-Nine: “Oh, so you heard about that? What can I say, old friend? You have a keen mind for battle, but are a soolian in every other respect. Lay down your weapon, Varvatos. Kneel before your rightful king.” Varvatos refuses to do so, and rightfully says he does not fight fair. Morando admits it, and that he fights to win, destroying Varvatos' weapon and shooting him a few times, similar to a mature shooting game. He then decides to force him to watch as he kills the rest of the Royals, and enters the spaceship and accesses the King and Queen's memories to find where Gaylen's core is so he can become a god. Hunting for Gaylen's Core Morando discovers that the King and Queen gave Gaylen's core to Kanjigar the Courageous and Vendel to hide it in Heartstone Trollmarket. He gets out of the memories and destroys their protection, leaving their life cores to be drained. He leaves to Trollmarket to finally claim Gaylen's core for himself. With that, Mother is forced to make a heroic sacrifice to power the stasis chambers of the spaceship so the King and Queen get their power cores get full so they can come back, even though she gets erased forever. Morando soon gives Kubritz special armor so she can defend herself, and that it will have Gaylen's core inside it once he comes back. He then has his Omens drill their way down into Trollmarket, where they search for Gaylen's core. However, he finds the Royals, and tries to destroy them. He follows them into the Deep where Gaylen's core is kept, trying to reach it before Aja and Krel could. He finally gains it for himself, deciding to use it to remake the universe. Attacking Arcadia After getting Gaylen's core, Morando reveals to Kubritz that after Seklos destroyed Gaylen, the universe descended into chaos, and he wants to use Gaylen's core to bring his own order on the universe. Instead of inserting it into Kubritz's new armor as promised, he absorbs its power. However, Kubritz still trusts him, not knowing that he would likely betray her later on once his transformation was complete. After hours of absorbing the power, Morando becomes the size of a giant monster, he becomes black, his highlights and eyes become red, and he has become more powerful than ever before. He arrives at Arcadia, and starts wreaking havoc. Meanwhile, Kubritz realizes what a monster (literal and figurative) Morando truly was when she witnessed him attacking the innocent people of Arcadia. Aja tries to redeem Kubritz and help her fight against Morando. When Morando starts attacking Aja, Kubritz truly redeems herself when she protects Aja from Morando, who boasts about himself being a god. However, Morando fatally wounds her by knocking her against a car which falls upon her, but not before Kubritz was able to weaken him. After that, Morando blows up Kubritz, and then grabs Toby and Steve, threatening to crush them if they don't tell him where Aja was. However, Aja appears, so Morando throws Toby and Steve, expecting that she will fail to save them. However, she does, so Morando chases them to the bridge. Aja then manages to stab Morando's hand and slash off one of his left eyes. Soon, the armies of Akiridion-5 come to Earth and fight Morando, severely weakening him. However, Morando shows the wings in his suit, and uses a force shield to destroy the armies, proving that he is too powerful. Aja and Krel are forced to use the rebuilt Seklos' cannon to finish him off, which can only happen if two of the royals' life cores are drained while the cannon is still used. King Fialkov and Queen Coranda are finally fully restored, and use the cannon to sacrifice themselves as their life cores are drained as they die. With that, Aja and Krel aim the cannon at Morando, and Aja shoots it as it vaporizes Morando's body along with Gaylen's core, destroying him and ridding the universe of his evil once and for all. Physical Appearance Morando is dark blue, quite buff, wears armor made of steal in a similar design as the rest of the Akiridions, and he also wears a transparent cape. He has four eyes, three fingers on each hand, and appears to have large horns on his head. After empowering himself with Gaylen's Core, he became a giant, the blue lights on his armor turn red, and his skin became more darker, and his cape was replaced by red wings. He has also two red blasters on each of his arms. Personality Morando was a power-hungry dictator who wanted nothing more than to destroy and dominate everything and everyone in his path, especially the Akiridion royal family. He also showed no care for the Akiridion-5 residents and ignores their protests, even eliminating any innocent Akiridion who pray for House Tarron's safety. In Part Two, it is revealed just how despicable and power-hungry he truly was: that all he cares about is gaining all the power of the universe and even recreate it into his own creation, hence his desire to locate Gaylon's core on Earth. He never really seem to care much about his henchmen, as he didn't even seem to be concerned that the bounty hunters he sent perished and decided to go after the Tarron's himself. He also crushed one of his own soldier's life cores out of mere disappointment. Morando was also very manipulative and persuasive, with every promise he makes he breaks with no qualms. He used his knowledge of Vex's loss of his family to coerce him into helping to lower the planetary shield, allowing Morando to infiltrate the coronation and usurp the throne. However, it was later discovered that Morando was the one who staged the tragedy that killed Vex's family so he could be vulnerable enough to betray House Tarron. When he allied himself with Kubritz, he promised that he would help her rid Earth of its extraterrestrial inhabitants and once he got Gaylon's core, he would leave Earth unharmed. However, once he finally gained his god-like form, he revealed that he never cared about leaving Earth unharmed and actually wanted to start by destroying Earth before other planets. By Part Two, Morando reveals just how purely evil he truly was: that he was willing to use the power of Gaylen's Core just to destroy the entire universe and rule every single planet. After he managed to merge himself with the core, Morando became more bloodthirsty, merciless, remorseless, greedy, insane, and desired to rule and destroy the entire universe, just so he could recreate it into his own image. He even threw away his entire army and allies since he has gotten what he wanted, remarking himself as the destroyer of the universe. Powers & Abilities Powers * Akiridion Physiology: As an Akiridion, he was shown stronger and more durable than a normal human. ** Enhanced Strength: Morando was strong enough to degenerate one of his solders with nothing but his tightening grip, and even crush the soldier's life core with his bare hand. ** Enhanced Durability: Morando was able to withstand many blows which would mortality wound an average human ** Enhanced Stamina: Morando can physically exert himself for long periods of time without tiring before fatigue begins to wear him out. ** Enhanced Agility: Morando is more agile than a normal human, but is clearly not as acrobatic as Aja. ** Enhanced Speed: Morando is faster than a normal human. *** Enhanced Reflexes: He can react faster than an average human when in combat. ** Vacuum Adaption: As an Akiridion, Morando can adapt and survive in any atmospheric environment without any aid, but a planet's gravity does still affect him. *** Oxygen Independence: Morando does not require oxygen to survive. ** Semi-Immortality: As an Akiridion, Morando can live for hundreds of years without aging. * Gaylen's Core-Induced Physiology: After he merged himself with Gaylen's Core, his physiology had increased into that of an alien god, even more so than an average human, Akiridion, or troll. Even Toby admits that, compared to Morgana, he was more powerful than her. However, his exact strength was unknown as he was defeated before he could reach full power. ** Supernatural Strength: Morando was stronger than any living being in the galaxy. ** Supernatural Endurance: Morando could endure more than any living being. *** Invulnerability: Morando could withstand countless direct hits from an entire fleet of Akiridion Resistance pilots, even Colonel Kubritz, but has clearly showed agony when they attacked him. *** Supernatural Stamina: Morando could exert himself without tiring. ** Supernatural Speed: Despite his new larger size, Morando was fast enough to keep up with Aja on her hoverboard and Toby with his Warhammer. *** Supernatural Reflexes: Morando was able to easily catch Toby's Warhammer without even looking. ** Flight (possibly): Morando most likely could fly since he had wings, but he was never shown doing this as he was defeated before he could reach full power. ** Ionikinesis: Morando gained the ability to produce and control his own ionic energy without the need of a serrator. *** Ionic Energy Blasts: Morando was able to fire continuous streams of red ionic energy capable of destroying an entire building. When using his power all at once, it could take out multiple city blocks. However, his blasts were apparently not powerful enough to overcome Seklos' Cannon, powered by two royal life cores. *** Ionic Energy Wave: When he was overwhelmed by the Akiridion fleet, he was able to create of wave barrier capable of knocking them all away and everything around him. ** Immortality: As a god-like alien, Morando most likely possessed a god's ability to live forever without dying, although his mergence with Gaylen's core has not reached its fullest extent before his defeat. ** Creation/Destruction: With the power of Gaylen's core, Morando possessed the ability to create and destroy planets in the entire universe. However, he never really reached full power to be able to do this as he was defeated before he could even begin by destroying Earth first. Abilities * Combatant: As a former general, Morando was a competent fighter. His fighting skills rival that of Varvatos Vex and Aja Tarron. * Manipulation: Morando was able to use Vex's bitterness about his family tragedy to persuade him into lowering the shields so his forces would overthrow House Tarron and take over Akiridion-5. Weaknesses * Physical Damage: Despite his enhanced durability, Morando could be forced into retreating into his core if he ever suffered too much physical damage. * Seklos' Cannon: Despite his god-like power, Morando did possess one weakness when merged with Gaylen's core, which is the cannon that ended Gaylen's reign of destruction. When powered by two royal life cores (at the cost of the royal Akiridions' lives), the cannon is capable of overpowering Morando's ionic blast and vaporizes him, along with the core. Equipment * Serrator: A serrator is an Akiridion's most common weapon, being able to form into a nearly-impenetrable shield, a blaster with a blade at the end, and a two-pronged spear. Unlike other Akiridion's serrators, his ionic weapons are red. Relationships King Fialkov and Queen Coranda Morando usurped the throne of Akiridion-5 from Fialkov and Coranda. He had no qualms on killing them, threatening their children, and stealing their life cores while they were in stasis. In the end, when the King and Queen were regenerated, they subsequently sacrifice their life cores to power Seklos' cannon to defeat him once and for all. Prince Krel and Princess Aja As the exiled heirs to the throne, they pose a threat to the legitimacy of Morando's rule. Morando most likely sees Aja as more of a threat than Krel since her bounty is higher than his, possibly because she's training to be a warrior princess. After the royal children sends Akiridion-5 a planet-wide video feed to give the citizens hope of never surrendering to Morando, his hatred and hunger to rid the heirs of House Tarron grows even more, even after they destroyed Omen. Morando later decides to launch a full-scale invasion on Earth to rid the House Tarron line himself. Varvatos Vex "You will NEVER be my king." -Vex to Morando in "Race to Trollmarket" Knowing his wishes to avenge his deceased family, Morando and Vex had a brief alliance while Morando orders Vex to lower the shields and promises that he will not harm anyone. However, after Morando betrayed his promise when the Queen and King got hurt, Varvatos immediately saw the error of his ways and quickly got the young princelings to safety. Vex is later overcome by grief and regret, calling himself a fool for even trusting Morando's words in the first place. When he later learned that Morando hired the Zeron Brotherhood to kill Vex's family to nurse resentment against King Fialkov, his hatred of Morando only intensified. Mothership At first, Morando tried to use Aja and Krel's Mothership to turn her against them and attack them. Later, when she tries to fight back against his ambush to protect the children, he orders his Omen Blanks to erase her. Omens Omen was a blank that he programmed to stop the resistance, but then he sent Omen to Earth to stall Aja and Krel as he went to steal the Queen and King's cores. Omen was later destroyed by Aja and Krel. Later on, he expanded his Omen Project and created dozens of Omen blanks as his new army. Following Morando's death, the Omen Project was ultimately abandoned and shut down. Colonel Kubritz Like Varvatos, Morando merely saw Kubritz as one of his pawns in gaining the power to destroy the universe. He uses her xenophobia to trick her into allying with him and presenting her with an army of Omen blanks and a high-tech battle suit of her own. When Kubritz finally learns the hard way of his true nature, Morando openly claims that he never cared about leaving the Earth unharmed, wanting to destroy Earth first before removing other planets as well. After she betrays him by trying to weaken him, Morando kills her on the spot. Quotes Main article: General Morando/Quotes Episode Appearances Trivia * Morando not only has a similar appearance to Gunmar, but in personality and an ultimate goal heavily involving tyranny and destruction of humanity as well. ** However, while Gunmar did care about his son, Morando never cared about anyone but himself, much like Morgana. * Morando was the second villain in the franchise to be established as pure evil and a complete monster, the first being Morgana (the hidden true main antagonist of Trollhunters). Gallery Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:3 Below Characters Category:Aliens Category:Males Category:Deceased